New Zealand extends military deployment to Afghanistan

New Zealand will extend the deployment of its special forces soldiers to Afghanistan for another year from April but will reduce numbers from 70 to around 35, John Key, the prime minister, has said.

A 140,000-strong force of NATO-led international troops stationed in Afghanistan currently fighting Taliban-led insurgency is now entering its tenth yearPhoto: AFP

7:00AM GMT 01 Feb 2011

Mr Key said the deployment was likely to be the last by the Special Air Service elite combat troops. He denied that he had been pressured by the United States, Britain or any other nation to keep the troops overseas.

"The SAS are extremely well respected for what they do, so obviously our traditional allies on the ground in Afghanistan - the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, and other - would love to see New Zealand SAS there because they do a great job and they make a real difference," he said.

Mr Key said that the SAS would continue its work to improve the operational standard of the Afghan crisis response unit, an elite police counter-terrorism unit.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said during a visit to New Zealand in November that she hoped the SAS deployment would be extended.

New Zealand also has a 140-strong provincial reconstruction team stationed in the central Afghan province of Bamiyan. Mr Key said decisions regarding the wider New Zealand deployment to Afghanistan would be made in coming months.